FORMER Commission on Elections (Comelec) commissioner Virgilio Garcillano is dead at 87 years old.
Garcillano, or more known as “Garci,” died last Saturday at his residence in Baungon, Bukidnon.
His remains lie in state at the St. Peter’s Chapel in Cagayan de Oro City since yesterday. Details of his interment are still unavailable at this time.
Garcillano became a key figure in the controversial “Hello Garci” recording when he was still Comelec commissioner. His name was linked to alleged electoral fraud during the 2004 presidential elections when a recording of his alleged conversation with then-President (and now Representative) Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo was released to the public in 2005.
He denied that Arroyo gave him orders to rig the elections.
Garcillano got his law degree at the University of the East in 1960 and became a Comelec career official as a special attorney in 1961 until he became regional director of northern Mindanao.